


A Night of Ghastly Dreaming

by thisnewjoe



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Character Study, Eames to the rescue, Getting Back Together, Getting Together, Idiots in Love, M/M, Murder Husbands, Secret Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:48:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 7,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25663138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisnewjoe/pseuds/thisnewjoe
Summary: Eames and Arthur share a trust grown from years of professional work in extraction teams. He trusts Arthur explicitly and corrects anyone who dares worry that they won't deliver on their promises.When Eames discovers their new job could ruin Arthur's mind, he leaps into action without a plan, driven by passion to save the man he's grown closest to in his whole life. The man he doesn't think he can survive without despite them being out of contact for years.
Relationships: Arthur/Eames (Inception)
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't beta read, just a sort of stream-of-consciousness as I rewatch the movie and appreciate the dynamic exchanges between Arthur and Eames in the film.

Eames has found the safehouse Arthur has hidden himself and his quarry in. Josenah is monitoring the inception rig, keeping an eye on the medical mixture that facilitates mind-to-mind connection and the medical equipment that ensures neither of the participants gets lost within the dreams within dreams.

"Hello Eames. Was Arthur expecting you?"

Josenah's reply confirmed his suspicions that they and Arthur both were unaware of the risk with going into the subconscious mind of this particular individual. 

"Hello Josenah, I'm here on business and no, Arthur is unaware that I am about to join him."

Josenah lookes at Eames. He's earnest, and committed, and they know they won't stop him from joining the pair in the dream. "I am not prepared for another person, Eames. Practically speaking, I can't safely let you join them. There isn't enough serum."

Eames hands her a thick vial. "I've prepared my own. It should be compatible for this sequence, though I did have to guess at some of the details, and I promise not to hold you responsible for anything that goes wrong."

They nod in reply. Eames and Arthur have been on many jobs together. Their partnership is known across the industry. Nobody would dare stand in their way, not only because they are among the best in the business, but because their passion seems to rare that it's become more legendary than some of their best work together. They take the vial from Eames with a nod, and prepare another set of lines for him. Tubes for the serum, cables for the electrical connections, and adding a subroutine in the controller to add Eames to the monitor as they watch the trio at work.

"I'm sorry, dear. I just have to do this." Eames looks genuinely apologetic but unfailingly committed. He won't tolerate any trouble where Arthur is concerned.

"Can you tell me what kind of danger Arthur is in? Maybe I can keep an eye from out here and pull him from the dream if things go badly."

"You can't. There's a deadlock on his mind already." Eames points to the display and when the moment comes that the anomoly, slight though it seems, appears on the monitors, Josenah gasps. They hadn't seen the pattern before and it was so subtle that without prior knowledge of the secondary carrier signal they'd never have realized that Arthur's mind had been infected with a bomb. It wasn't difficult to imagine the devastation to a dream if their identity were to unwind while incepting another mind.

Another moment's thoughts revealed the truth: This was an assassination. Someone set up this target specifically to take out whoever took the inception job and Arthur was the unlucky bastard who won the horrific lottery.

"I had no idea! I'm so sorry, Eames! I would never have let Arthur in there if I had known!"

Eames pulls them into a hug. "I know, darling. But Arthur needs us now. Can I count on you to keep him in the dream even if he's trying to come out?"

"Won't that make it worse?!"

Eames shakes his head. "If I can't defuse this before he comes to full consciousness, then the man we know will die." He ignored the tear slipping down his cheek. "I will not let that happen, not to this man, not ever. I owe my life to him."

"What will you do?" Josenah asked.

"Whatever I must do to save him. The job was a front. This is now a rescue mission."

Josenah tried not to let the fear show on their face, but Eames' tutted and shook his head.

"You aren't responsible for this, Josenah. You couldn't have known. I didn't know until two days ago, and finding you two took this long."

"Wait. It took you only two days to find us? We must be slipping."

"I'll be sure to blame it all on Arthur when this is over, but I need you to get me in there now."

Josenah nodded, and set the syringe in Eames with surgical precision. A moment later, he'd lost himself to the subconscious reality constructed by some of the most dangerous people on the planet and began his search for Arthur.


	2. Chapter 2

Eames had total freedom here. There were no laws. Anyone he killed here had no life. They were temporal subjects created by the individual's subconscious mind. But killing too many would cause the subject's mind to collapse the dream. A certain amount of trust was necessary for inception. Eames knew how to get that trust.

On the other hand, with a dream assassin at work, the old rules might not apply. If Eames had told Josenah the truth, he wouldn't be here right now, navigating his way through an urban landscape in decay, catching a glimpse of Arthur unlocking the door to some ordinary-seeming warehouse.

As a forger, Eames had concepts in mind for who he had to be. He had prepared a set of dream images that might apply, adding them to the inventory of projections he'd created before. He was an excellent forger, among the best in the world of inceptors. But he had to beat Arthur, who was the sharpest mind he'd ever met aside from Ariadne.

The camouflage he put himself in for this mission was of a 20-something bicyclist with a fetish for natural textiles and a scent that wouldn't seem out of place in a world like this one. The near-apocalypse of Arthur's dream for this dreamer. 

He didn't even know the dreamer's name. That was the worst part. He had seen the dreamer in real life, before going deep, but a person's projection of themself often didn't match the physical reality. Sometimes there were minor distortion, such as being mostly themselves but in a better position of power relative to their peers. Other times the person projected power in real life and was practically homeless in the constructed dreams. This dream was unknown to him. He couldn't even trust that Arthur was who he said he was.

The clock was ticking. He moved at speed to the alley behind the warehouse, where he could find or create an access into the structure. He believed the version of Arthur that he saw was genuine, and he needed to start there.

Unfortunately, that also meant the subconscious mind of the target was also aware of his presence, and he had to do as little as possible to interrupt the dream or he'd draw the attention of the protectors built into the modern human's psyche. Above all else, he couldn't afford to trigger either of the other dreamers to his presence until he confirmed it was the genuine Arthur he was speaking with.

"Why are you following me?" said the familiar voice. It sounded like Arthur.

"I find people fascinating, and you came into this place where nobody has gone in ages." Eames hedged his bets, trying to offer Arthur a chance to out himself as a dreamer while protecting his identity from possible assailants. It was a headache-inducing game much of the time.

"This city is huge, and most people have too much to worry about."

Eames thought about it, then grinned through the face of the 20-something he'd constructed as his image. He let a speck of truth come out, hoping Arthur would realize who he really was without causing the dream to unravel.

"I'm sorry, darling. I just like to keep an eye on important things."

It seemed to have done the trick all too well.

"You can't be here. I know who you're supposed to be, but you can't be here." Arthur glanced up and down the alley, which seemed more close and dark than it had a moment before. "I wish you were here, but you can't be."

That caught Eames by surprise more than he thought it would. He couldn't help but confess. "You're in danger, Arthur. This was trap intended to kill you. We have to disable the trap before you come awake or that beautiful mind will be lost forever."

Arthur was even more suspicious now. "Your presence here is my subconscious warning me about a threat I must not have noticed. I'll take heed, but I need you to go."

"I'll stay for as long as I can, Arthur. I can't leave you here on your own." Eames considered his next words carefully, speaking only when Arthur opened his mouth to say something else. "I can't lose you again, Arthur. I just won't have it. A world without you isn't worth it."

In all fairness to Arthur, this level of truth was unexpected. He had deduced this was a projection of Eames, and that this was one of the most favorable versions of Eames he'd ever encountered, but it couldn't be real. Eames was away somewhere, far out of contact from him, and they never really did all that well at connecting in realtime to begin with. There was something real there, but neither of them fed that fire despite how long it has smouldered.

"I can't trust you, which you have to know. If you're a real projection of Eames, you know that I can't."

"I can't let you die just because you didn't have all the facts, darling."

"That's my favorite pet name and you hardly ever use it with me." Arthur seemed almost ashamed at the admission. Eames knew that Arthur still thought he was just a projection, and he couldn't see a way to convince him otherwise. Shedding the projection could lead Arthur to lose control of the dream and maintaining that control was the only thing keeping him in his own mind at the moment.

"Whether I'm real or not, Arthur, you're in real danger. This target was a setup, and you're going to die in this dark and dusty little room if you don't let me help."

Arthur looked at him. Eames guessed that he was trying to see past the projection, to verify his suspicions or blow them away and reveal the truth. Eames could do nothing but wait for Arthur to decide. He was a strong-willed man, but not infinitely stubborn. Eames hoped he would make the right choice.

"You're going to keep following me, aren't you?"

"Until I can do no more, yes. I'm here. And I'm versatile; I can help in any way that you need." Eames hoped that Arthur felt the truth of the statement through the fog of suspicion.

Arthur seemed to consider the offer. Maybe on more levels than the intended one, which Eames didn't mind. It wouldn't be their first roll in the hay, let alone with Eames as another persona, but with Arthur still so uncertain, he couldn't be sure what was on Arthur's mind.

"I'm here to help you get out of this alive and intact, my darling. I'm not offering anything else until your safety is assured."

"Well, that's both the most and least Eames-like thing I've heard you say so far. Fine, follow me." 

Arthur turned and Eames followed him inside the warehouse through a door he hadn't noticed before. Arthur is changing the dream to suit his wariness, which could be dangerous for them both. They couldn't afford to have another train running down the street and for it to get noticed by the assassin, so he followed quickly and noted that as soon as he passed inside, the doorway they'd used had been replaced with a nondescript blank wall.

He thought to himself, "Well done, Arthur. You are getting better at cleaning-up after yourself."


	3. Chapter 3

Arthur used to be a real stick in the mud. He was worse than he is now, but as Eames has been Arthur's shadow over the last few hours he's noticed that the other man's skills have grown tremendously. That speaks to his strength and skills as an dreamer, but also to the dangers he's faced and, so far, has overcome in the jobs since the big one with Cobb and that man's dark, dangerous shadow, Mal.

Eames hoped that Josenah's skills as a chemist were up to task. They probably were, since Arthur wouldn't tolerate substandard performance now that he was essentially a master in his role, but Eames hadn't really seen the man at work in so long he didn't know what to expect. Josiah must have some particular expertise in the art of serum production and customization for Arthur to be able to maintain such control over the dream in a manner that the subject simply seemed to accommodate, for the most part.

It was that afternoon that they found the fuse. In what was perhaps a few minutes realtime outside of the dream had taken them many hours to discover. It was there in Arthur's dream, a sort of pulse of something just a little off with the world. A spoon phased partly through a cup that went unnoticed by Arthur, for example. Eames had called it out and Arthur's expression grew grave. He understood how dangerous this was, how subtle the manipulation.

"Are you sure I can't just end this dream now?"

"It's not a dream anymore, dear Arthur. It's a duel. You've got me on your side, but I can't fight the battle for you. The assassin is, after all, interacting with your mind and they probably can't even control the impulse to kill you." They didn't have time for subtlety.

"You never were very good at subtlety when you wanted someone to know something." Arthur acknowledged. Eames noticed that he still hadn't said his name aloud.

"Why won't you use my name?"

"I said it once when I noticed you, but haven't said it since. I don't know if you're real or not, but you're helping me, and that's what I need most right now."

"And what if I were the real man? What if he had found out what was going on, tracked you down, convinced Josenah to let me join the dream, and came to rescue you?"

"That would make you my knight in shining armor," Arthur said, taking stock of Eames' projection's leather jacket, ass-enhancing jeans, and booted feet. "And for as much as that man adores those archetypes for the job, I don't think he really wants to be anyone's knight. He wants people to be self-reliant." Arthur looked at the stream of sunlight through the window. It was approaching late afternoon. "I don't know how much time I have here, but I choose to accept that you're real enough to help me survive this."

"Ideally, Arthur, I'll help you do more than survive. I'll help you thrive."

Arthur smiled. There was a twinge of sadness. Arthur rarely attempted to change his form, and without a projection to work with the mind had trouble faking expressions. Arthur wasn't faking the sadness he felt at the idea that his subconscious posted a projection of Eames into his mind just when he needed it most. If Eames were to guess, he'd suspect Arthur was almost bitter about the whole situation.

Eames promised to turn that around as soon as he could. But for now, the mission needed them both.


	4. Chapter 4

The experience of human cognition as experienced by a person skilled at inception is almost mind-blowing. As social beings we have constructed powerful, cross-connected layers of defenses and assertions that keep the identity consistent over time. People who become aware of the mental processes tend to be able to align their identity with their intentions in the long-haul, but nobody seems to be able to alter themselves completely and sustainably in the short haul. As a forger, Eames had developed a mental system of compartmentalizing what he considered his essential characteristics and played with everything else. To do otherwise was suicide. Naturally, that left a potential for discovery and conflict for anyone who knew of Eames and had experience with him, since they could be trained to recognize him across various disguises. Arthur was skilled in many things, but didn't have the training to be or detect forgeries like Eames had. And in the dream, working virtually side-by-side with Arthur on a mission to save the other man's life, he had to keep his compartments close in mind so he wouldn't lose himself in Arthur's conception of him.

If Eames were to give a lecture to a classroom of hopeful forgers, he'd start with the statement that nothing is more important to a forger's surivival in the dream as maintaining a clear concept of himself. Eames would not think to mention of the danger of having strong, long-term feelings for someone on an operation, whether they were in reach or not. Arthur was practically in reach, and they'd been close before, but never quite connected in the dream nor actual reality. 

Eames regretted not making more effort in the past, but he couldn't afford to distract Arthur now and put those feelings into the same large box every time they came up, promising himself he'll sort things out later. Life, even in the dream reality, finds a way to mess up the best self-distracting plans. In this dream, it happened the moment Eames accompanied Arthur on a visit with the subject — logged indelibly in Eames' mind as Arthur's hopeful assassin — in the subjects' work lounge.

Arthur had explained to the entity he regarded as Eames' projection that the target was here because Arthur had been given a mission to root the target's mind for evidence of who had been plotting against the client. Arthur hadn't made much progress on this in the dreamtime days he's been working at it, and Eames wouldn't let Arthur keep him away from the table the next time the man and his would-be assassin met.

The cafe the trio met at was thin and long. An aisle for the servers and customers to walk to their tables was between the wall to the kitchen and storage areas, and the small tables where individuals and small groups could gather at the booths along the opposite side. A view of the street through large windows kept the place lit well enough in the dream's early summer season, and the men greeted their target warmly when he'd arrived.

"Hello Albert. Who is joining us today?" The target greeted Arthur by the alias he'd been using in the dream, and regarded Eames' forged identity with a sort of welcomness. Arthur may have been attracted to some degree to the image Eames had created, but their target was openly interested in getting to know the fiction Eames had created a little more intimately.

"This is Ed, and he's a friend from back home." He motioned between the men. "Ed, this is Gordon, a client who I'd like to build a good future with." The conceit of the dream that Arthur's architect had created was that Arthur was here as the ideal candidate for Gordon's next business prospect. It fed the ladder-climbing desires of the man himself while ingratiating Arthur's dream identity as a potential ally in the subjects' climb up the organizational ladder. Eames let Gordon decide how he would fit into the man's pursuit of power, which inspiration suggested in the moment could include taking the man's attention off Arthur long enough to redirect the poison pill implanted by the target in Arthur's mind.

Eames loved life, and loved Arthur, but that was the moment he first realized he'd rather take the bullet himself than see Arthur reduced to a shell of the brilliant man he'd become. It was also the moment he made his first mistake.

"Hello, Gordon. thank you for letting me join you two in your meeting this morning."

"Nonsense, Ed. This is just breakfast, with maybe a little work talk."

Eames smiled with a touch of shyness and a finessed glance of heated interest in Gordon's direction. The man immediately noticed and accepted the attention.

"So what brings you to this part of the world, Ed?"

"It's been too long since I've seen my friend," he said, wrapping his arm over Arthur's shoulder, "and I just can't go too long without seeing Albert here. He's quite skilled in many arts and if you're going into business with him, I think the endeavor will go quite well."

Eames ignored the twitch that passed through Arthur's shoulder at the praise. Arthur may have been going for more subtle and casual, but Eames wanted to control where Gordon's attention was focused, so he pushed further.

"I have to confess, Gordon, that I'm actually not sure what business you're getting into with Albert, but I assure you it will be worth your time."

Gordon glanced at Arthur and smiled, seeming to take the favorable review in consideration. "You said that Albert is a man of many wonderful talents..." He let the sentence sit incomplete, digging into his scrambled eggs and pretending that he'd said all he needed to. Eames saw the bait and went for it.

"He's a person quite close to my heart, and I'd recommend him to anyone in need of his particular skills."

"Surely you have many of your own skills worth advertising, no?" Gordon looked at Eames with desire and a need to control all in the same expression. It unsetttled Eames, or would have, if he were truly the uncetain 20-something he advertised himself to be.

"I feel that I have much to learn. Albert has excellent business sense, but I'm more of the type to dive right into action, to get into the thick of things," he said, putting emphasis on taking a bite of the salaciously salty fries. Eames recognized Arthur's specific love of french fries, which he knew the man denied himself in real life. It might help keep the man thin, but Eames believed that certain passions should be nursed and encouraged, and had never convinced Arthur to take his dreamspace fantasies into reality with regard to this particular dish.

Gordon gaped at him. "You talk like someone with more experience than you suggest, Ed."

"I prefer not to kiss-and-tell, but yes, Gordon, I know what I like and I go for it when I can. Life is too short to do otherwise, wouldn't you agree?"

The philosophical considerations were ignored in favor of Gordon's increasing appetite for taking what Ed seemed to be offering.

"Albert, after we're done here, would you mind if I took Ed on a tour of town?"

Arthur was silenced by Eames' eager reply. "I'd love that! Albert hasn't taken me on a tour yet, and I'd love to find some of those fantastic places that only the locals know!" He considered that he might be laying the excitement on a little thickly, but Gordon's interests were animalistic, and his brain didn't seem interested in spending much time considering the unusual nature of the situation.

"I think that providing a special tour for your friend could really help our business arrangements, don't you agree, Albert?"

Eames had removed his arm from Arthur's shoulder a moment before, but Arthur set his foot on Eames' and pressed painfully hard while he replied, "I wouldn't want him to be a bother, Gordon."

Gordon waved the thought away. He was going to spend time with Ed regardless what Arthur thought of the arrangement, and Arthur wouldn't be able to resist much more stiffly without triggering Gordon's subconscious defenses. So far, all of this had gone by the rules, even the projection he thought of as Eames' forger avatar, and he didn't want to give any hint to the target that he was in a dream.

"Honestly, I think Ed could benefit from the experience. I confess that I haven't shown him everything I could so far, but I've thought about it."

Gordon and Eames both looked at Arthur, but Gordon spoke and Eames kept silent.

"Do you mean you've wanted to spend more time with Ed and just... haven't?"

"It's somewhat complicated. I respect Ed, and Ed's confidence in me is encouraging, but I don't konw that I've given him as much time and attention as maybe I could, if things were different."

"Things aren't different, they're however they are, Albert!" Gordon emphasized. Eames was stunned by what seemed like a genuine expression of guilt and remorse that he hadn't spent as much time and effort with Eames as he'd been wanting to do. It left Eames some things to think about.

"That's true, but since Ed's here for only a short time, I think it would be good for you two to get to know each other." He set his knee against Eames'. Somehow, it felt like guilt, an apology, and an acceptance of the inevitable all in one. That acknowledgement nearly unsettled Eames from his projection and the forget disciplined his attention back on the extremely serious and potentially disastrous matter at hand.

"Gordon, perhaps some time learning about town with you will open up Albert and I to spending more time together in the future. I'm sure he doesn't mind, and that he'd like to see us both satisfied." He added heat and lust to the last words he spoke, letting Gordon take them in.

The would-be assassin took it as it was intended. "I don't offer you more than a good time, Ed. I'm not going to be available to anyone for longer than that, so you and Albert here are free to try something new in the future without anyone being too bothered by the situation." He looked at Arthur. "Do you agree?"

Arthur nodded crisply. If Eames hadn't known Arthur for years at this point, he'd have missed the concern and worry that ran in the background of the reply. Arthur had always found it difficult to hide his true feelings in words, and his skill at hiding them in action had ironically resulted in Eames getting better at reading the other man.

Perhaps if things were different he and Arthur could really embrace those things he'd thought about before. And that Arthur had thought about before, if his read on Arthur's previous statements can be believed.

"It's settled, then. I'll show Ed a good time around town and you and I will meet this evening to discuss the next part of our arrangement." Gordon missed all the finer messages that someone with empathy would probably have noticed. The tension between Arthur and the avatar he believed was a subconscious creation of Eames simply went unnoticed by Gordon. If he had to place his bets, Eames would have bet against Gordon having any feelings at all about people with complicated romantic interests.

Eames decided right then that Gordon wasn't getting out of this situation at all. No matter what happened to himself, Eames wouldn't let Gordon get out of this trap with his mind intact. It was a dark and consuming thought that had, as with everything else, gone unnoticed by Gordon.

What Eames hadn't noticed was Arthur's increased attention. He hadn't noticed that Arthur had tilted his head slightly at the suggestion that even his imaginary Eames should be subject to any but the most authentic affections.

If they hadn't been distracted by each other, Arthur and Eames both might have noticed what else was present in the cafe at that moment.


	5. Chapter 5

Eames had taken it lightly when Arthur first said, "I am Impressed," in reply to Eames' interpretation of how to implant a target with the idea of feeling love and the wish for freedom from his father. Eames had always been aware of what was needed to be successful, but until he saw Arthur in that room, along with Ariadne and the others, he didn't know for sure that he'd ever see the idea realized.

After all this time, he was not just inhabiting part of Arthur's created reality with an assassin who might not even be aware of how deadly he truly was, but Eames was also being enticed by the idea of being confident with Arthur in expressing his love for the man.

There, he finally acknowledged it: He truly, completely, loved Arthur and all his stubborn wariness and snappy intellect. Arthur with his thin legs and perfect face and inspiringly brilliant mind. Arthur of the slightly overdone jalapeño poppers and underdone taquitos. Arthur of the grave concerns, of the worries that needed to be dealt with and put to rest in peace. Arthur who was, Eames finally believed, ready to love Eames in return.

It was the first time that he wanted to fight for more than sacrificing himself instead of losing Arthur, to fighting for the both of them to thrive when they got out of this mess, and putting a real end to the assholes who organized this whole job. Eames was committed and unflinching, and that made him capable of being an extraordinarily powerful forger. They were going to win or they'd fail together. He was certain of it now, and he wanted most of all for them to win and live the rest of life together.

The only thing standing between Eames and the man he loved more than even himself was Gordon. And that solved the equation.

For Eames and Arthur to succeed together, Gordon had to die.

Eames raised his eyebrow at Gordon at the end of their afternoon together and said, "Goodbye, Gordon," with it standing in for every ounce of a death curse he could wish upon the other man.


	6. Chapter 6

The rail-thing Arthur paced the hotel room he'd idealized in his dream. Of all the things there were to deal with in dream reality, he wasn't about to let Gordon's stupid plans ruin his chance for something real with Eames. After all, if he didn't feel so strongly for Eames, how could this subconscious manifestation have been constructed? If Eames didn't occupy a significant portion of Arthur's own real, conscious thoughts (to say nothing of the abundance of subconscious thoughts about the other man), then he simply wouldn't be here.

Eames was now the part of a dangerous equation that Arthur had to solve. Cobb's omnipresent Mal nearly killed the entire van full of people on the first major mission the whole team had together. Even the chemist, driving everyone around and trying to keep everyone safe, was unable to ignore the powerful images created by his subconscious. The bullets were as real as anything in actual reality. The broken glass, the splash of river water over the windshield as they plunged deep, the scent of sadness emanating from Eames when they nearly failed have all been rammed into his memories.

Arthur's special power was in recognizing and working around the rules of the dream realm. He could identify the edges and move through the spaces between projections like nobody else. The immediate mission proved no differently: There was nowhere Gordon and the Eames projection went that didn't go observed by Arthur. As the creator of the dream   
he could also access the sensations and overall emotional sense of the subjects in the dream with him

Observing Gordon was easy. The man practically wished that everyone knew when he'd caught a good fish and taken it home to devour. The Eames avatar had seemed both interested and willing in spending more time with Gordon. Arthur refused to look too closely at the knot of irritated, angry feelings he felt in response to that. The existence of his own emotional state was in such a contrast to the feelings of the other two that the dream began warping in warning to him of his unsettled heart. The very real being that Gordon was feeling for the Eames avatar set his sense of jealousy on fire. Arthur knew he felt jealous. He'd recognized jealousy as a schoolchild and it was among the first things he noticed in any new situation. It was also the first sensation he attempted to squash completely when he happened to notice it.

Gordon nearly lost the thread of suggestion and innuendo when the cafe started rotating against the sun, but Arthur's drive to imprison his emotional experience clamped the fury down before Arthur's dream transmogrified into something outwardly sinister and inevitably self-defeating. He escaped a sigh of relief when Gordon returned to the coffee he was sipping while the man thought of several dirty, filthy things he'd like to do with the person he knew as Ed.

Arthur considered that if Eames were here, he wasn't sure what Eames would do. Certainly protect the mission up to the point that he'd sacrifice himself, but not including that sacrifice if he could avoid it. Arthur smiled. Eames never disappointed him. Annoyed him, sometimes irritated the ever-living light out of him, but in light of all those annoyances had never actually let him down.

Arthur loved Eames. He knew it. He hoped that when he found Eames next he had the heart to follow-through on telling the other man how deeply he loves him, and always has.


	7. Chapter 7

Gordon welcomed Albert and Ed in after opening the door to their welcome faces. He was impressed with himself that he'd brought these two individuals into the fold.

Albert was a very sharp businessman. He understood cause and it's relationship to risk, and how acting with concern could lead people to embrace what's before them or flee it. The gangster didn't particularly care what Albert's concerns would be. Gordon knew he had enough experience and smarts to make something real for himself, leaving him all the time he wanted for the things he just loves because he can.

Ed. This man was the cause of a chafing cock in tight pants. Ed was why Gordon could barely give a shit about what Albert had to say, and Gordon had to admit that he loved getting lost in that. Plotting to take over an empire was big business, and Gordon felt it took a lot of his thoughts. He was angry all the time, too, but he'd known that anger and sex were related.

It was maybe a decade ago now that he'd had that one moment to forgive someone and he made the decision that he still feels was the right one at the time. It's the right one now, he announces to himself, ignoring how it sounds more like a threat than a truth. 

These fucking idiots are going to make him rich and powerful and then if they don't work out, then adios to them. There was no room for sloppiness in his organization. Or there wouldn't be, once that happened. Regardless, Gordon knew that what he wanted no was Albert's business skills and Ed's presumed bedroom skills. The man certainly seemed to be advertising for a good time, and Gordon had no reason to think it wasn't going to be a damned good time.

He felt his grin before realizing he was doing it. "Yeah," he admitted. "It was a real fucking good time. Ed's the best..." He let the idea fade with no completion, as if to wish that the sensual power between him and Ed were neverending. All things pay the price of life, he believed, and eventually Albert and Ed would be put to rest. Not today, but maybe not that long after he takes over it all.

The boss doesn't know what he's doing. He's giving in to his own futility and Gordon just never feels that way. He know's what's right and he's going for it.

Fuck anyone who tells him otherwise.


	8. Chapter 8

Eames hated the entire experience. Ha-ted it. But he'd done this before when the job required and he didn't take it personally now. It was his choice, ugly or otherwise, but he made the choice and he's using it as fuel to take care of what needs to be done and nobody can take that from him.

He nudged Arthur's chair leg just as he had in the Saito mission. He saw a crack in Arthur's self-confidence. In a moment so small as to be ignored by the entirety of all other things, of recognition in Arthur's expression. He was absolute certainty about what he understood about the situation.

It made Eames sick. Arthur could see that he was the real he, here to help and support Arthur better than ever. Arthur understood what Eames had done today and he understood his own rage in the context of what had to be done on such short notice. Arthur had to save Eames, no matter what. It would be worth everything, and Arthur meant it.

Eames understood this was absolute reality. Arthur would give himself up to the trap if the situation demanded it so long as it meant Eames would survive. Arthur loved him restlessly and of all the times Eames has joined him in his dreams, discovering love with Eames was his top priority mission.

So while Arthur played up happiness at Gordon's overdescribed conquest over the Ed, he was in torment. Angry, vengeful torment.

That moment was also when Arthur saw in Eames that the other man's feelings were in perfect sync with his own.

"Gordon," Eames promised silently, "your end is coming."


	9. Chapter 9

Eames knew that when the two of them finally accomplished their part of the mission, they'd be free to eliminate Gordon as a threat. He reminded Arthur before joining Gordon on the last mission that the primary goal was to figure out who Gordon was working for. When he and Arthur compared notes later after going through their individual casual interrogations with Gordon and discovered that a rogue branch of Saito's conglomerate was the source of the contract on Arthur. Gordon suspected, but could not prove, that there were contracts on everyone involved with the Saito incident, including Saito.

Arthur had difficulty refraining from asking about Eames. Gordon mentioned none of the names in Arthur's operational crew, but Arthur wasn't about to trust this low-level functionary with the truth. On the other hand, maybe Gordon didn't know and was excellent at situational speculation. More likely, Eames estimated, the enemy had gotten better at teaching the subconscious mind in defense. That also revealed to the two of them that Gordon had figured out that Arthur was responsible for the dream they were in.

The firefight and flight of the pair immediately following the declaration had left Eames and Arthur panting and crashing shoulders together in exhaustion. Arthur kissed Eames, and when Eames cracked wise about Arthur falling in love with subconscious projections, Arthur confessed he'd know the real Eames had come to his unexpected rescue when he realized how much Eames loathed the experience of being Ed with Gordon on a hot and filthy afternoon.

When they'd brought Gordon's consciousness down into Eames' dream, making it the layer below Gordon's dream and two below Arthur's own dream. they could send him to limbo with an elegant suggestion they successfully implanted before that.

The kick caught Eames' attention hours later in dream time, after Arthur and he had embraced each other and made love and talked through several important things. He pulled Arthur and the remains of Gordon's consciousness to the next level. The scraps that survived the purge in limbo were rent to dust as Eames and Arthur elevated the dream closer to reality.

A sunrise followed Gordon's demise and the rise through dreams by Eames and Arthur. They held hands in mutual comfort for a minute before climbing out of the rig and pulling the wires that connected them to the dream manager kit.

Arthur ran a hand down his chest, smoothing his lightly wrinkled suit jacket in self-conscious attention. Eames caught him at it and sent a gracious grin in reply. Arthur beamed and blushed at the attention, but he didn't turn it away. Eames pulled him in for the longest hug he could imagine while the kick drew them back to reality.

All that was left of Gordon drooled on his shirt unnoticed by the dull, thoughtless eyes.


	10. Chapter 10

Once, a long time ago, Eames watched as Arthur kissed Ariadne. It was quick and brief, and exactly what might have saved their asses if conditions were different. Eames liked the idea of watching Arthur kiss people. He began liking the idea of the thinner man kissing Eames in the light on the porch. He let Arthur take up more space in his mind after that but never fully committed to the possibility of a life with Arthur.

Life is a game, right? Play the game, thrive by the game, and die by the game. That's how Eames had lived until that second he chose Arthur for his permanent affections.

After their wake from the Gordon affair, and verifying that Arthur had full typical cognition, Arthur asked Eames to dinner. And not to just dinner, but a nice dinner, "just the two of them."

Eames giggled inwardly when Arthur started sharing those overtly romantic sentiments. He figured that eight or nine times out of ten that he'd fooled Arthur into believing he was just joking, but those few other times reminded Arthur that Eames' love is real, and that he loves this man who feels a little too uptight and has forgotten how to relax.

* * *

Albert couldn't resist making a reprise of "I will lead them on a merry chase" to Eames after they'd worked the night away together for the first time. The first for real time, since the stuff before was just... well, it was just fucking around. It didn't mean anything because Arthur wouldn't let it, and tonight he figured out it was because Eames wouldn't, either.

"Thank you, Mister Eames." Arthur murmured into the soft shell of Eames' ear the first morning they woke together. They'd agreed already that they won't let themselves reenact the disaster of Cobb and Mal's deep dive into subconscious chaos. They wanted to explore the years together the long way around, no loops in time lost to an age as a couple with nobody else around.

And Arthur found it worked for him. He didn't typically care one way or another for people romantically, but he was starting to think of himself as Eames-sexual, since he favored Eames uniquely in his life. He found himself researching romantic traditions online to try to assemble a naturalesque sense of romance, but Eames understood him. Eames told him that what mattered is that they choose each other, and the rest is just details. Eames pledged his undyling love to Arthur and promised him to never make him feel guitly about missing some capitalist romantic concept so long as Arthur always trusts himself to know what to do.

He started practicing that trust that first night with Eames, and he's thrilled that it's been going on since then. Very satisfactory, actually, not merely good enough. He wouldn't have gone searching for Eames if he'd never met the man, but now that he knows him he's sticking with him.

* * *

The first moment Arthur realized how good Eames was at his job was the one time the entire gang was together. The Saito job was done and each were sharing their stories about the experience. While Eames described his death-defying placement of explosives throughout the winter base, and how he fought countless guards through pistolry and wrestling, Arthur imagined vivid pictures of Eames' ass straining the seams of his winterwear. He recalled strapping Eames and the rest of the crew together and noticing the tight apricot of Eames' rear end in those pinstripe slacks. Every touch since then adds layers of sensual vibrancy to his memories.

What he loved most unexpectedly was Eames proposing to him that winter night in the cabin. They'd been together for a week and the first snowfall happened earlier that morning. By the time the hot cocoa came out in the evening, Eames had judged the weather perfect and he made some goofy speech about his undying love of adventure and how Arthur belongs right there with him.

Arthur smiled. "Yes." he promised. Yes forever.


End file.
